Spending Spree

Yesterday I woke up to the omnious news that our country is in imminent danger of losing it's AAA credit rating.

Holy Cow.

I guess the thing that gets me the most is that as I did my morning cable news channel surf (even though Obama says we shouldn't watch these channels now), not everyone was reporting on this. And, most people don't get it. If we lose our AAA rating, interest rates will skyrocket, and life as we know it will change big-time. I should think that fact would be a little more important than discussing the latest American Idol episode. We're already seeing China, who owns the massive portion of our debt, starting to flex some political muscles.

And of course, all this talk of federal debt and spending has me thinking of our own debt and spending.

A few weeks ago our massive 40-something-inch rear-projection TV gave up the ghost and went out. For months now, we've been content to watch the ailing television, pretending not to notice the bright line forming at the top of the screen, which soon became a screen-wide permanent fixture along with an ever-increasing fuzziness and compression of the whole picture. A few weeks ago it degraded further, until the picture was like trying to watch a 3-D movie without the glasses, all slanted to the side. I resisted the knee-jerk reaction to run around the yard, arms flailing, yelling, "OH NO OUR TV IS DOOMED!"...and also resisted immediately jumping in the car and running to Sears to drop the several thousand dollars that we need to spend on new flooring in our new house on a new big-screen television instead.

It's amazing how quickly we adapt to technology. What we used to live just fine without are now considered essential parts of our lives. Daily Internet access, Smart phones, and ipods, as well as big screen TVs, are just a few of the things that didn't exist a few years ago, but now we can't seem to live without them.

When Marden and I first started dating, I was amazed he had such a huge TV (compared to my 19" I bought on a meager park ranger salary) and didn't think I could ever get used to it. Now that we've switched back to my old 19" upon the death of his big screen, I feel I should be using binoculars from the couch.

My husband summed up his feelings with, "I guess we need a new television." I was quick to agree...until it hit me - do we really? My 19" provides a clear picture, clear sound, and does everything our old TV did, just on a smaller scale. Do we really need to buy a new television just because this one, new just four years ago, is working fine but is just too small for our standards? Should we not wait until we're in a better financial situation to upgrade our television? Then answer is a big, fat YES...and not only that, it should be common sense.

The whole TV experience has me thinking about our current values and the way we spend money, and how we our definition of "needs" and "wants" has gotten a bit skewed. It's been discussed over and over again how Americans are not smart with money, and how we constantly spend beyond our means...and from the individual to our highest government, spending is totally out of control. It's the view of many economists that our cavalier attitude about money is what kicked our economy in the nether regions in the first place.

I've actually had the "unaffordable health care" conversation with an individual who was lamenting about not being able to afford health insurance, but who's house is chock full of the latest in entertainment technology. It's hard to take someone seriously when they are saying, "we just can't afford to buy our own insurance" when in the background there is a 50" flat-screen LCD television with a surround sound system topped off with a Blu-Ray player and 100+ movies and video games, not to mention the gazillion-channel HD dish package. Really? You can't afford $300/month for your family's health care? And the sad thing is, I'm afraid this person represents the majority. It's the entitlement mindset creeping in. The true feeling with some people is, "I shouldn't HAVE to spend $300/month on health insurance because I want all this other stuff."

I'm not going to beat the health care debate drum or get overly political in this post, but to me it's all pretty closely related. I hear people gripe about not having enough and that our government should do something about it, instead of taking steps themselves to improve their situation. Just go to Walmart and pay attention to what people buy - nearly every cart I see is full of luxury items and very unhealthy food choices.

I'm not in any way downplaying the seriousness of the state of our economy, nor am I putting everyone in the same category. There are plenty of people out there doing the best they can and making wise decisions with what they have who still need help. But I wonder about the attitude of our society as a whole. It seems the attitude of "keeping up with the Jones'" has become the acceptable norm rather than a negative way to conduct personal affairs. We're in bad need of re-evaluating what are "needs" and what are "wants."

Believe it or not - I'm not trying to be preachy. It's something I take serious and intend to seriously evaluate in my own life.

When we live in an ever-increasing entitlement mentality world where WANTS are now NEEDS...and people are looking to other sources for their perceived needs. It seems more and more people are choosing not to rely on themselves, but would rather look for the hand-out, without even really realizing it.

Amazing how the simple loss of television can cause you to question not only your own values, but the values of society as a whole.




"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude..." - Thomas Jefferson



"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson



"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt in the House of Commons, 1783.



"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin